One of our most significant desires is to connect with and unleash our full potential.

We crave to stand in our power. 

We harbor this desire because it’s innate to us; it’s who we are at our center.

We long and desire to embody and live from this place, yet we’ve been conditioned to do the opposite. 

To shrink, to hide, to not stand out from the crowd.

The first word most babies hear is “Shh.”

As we grow, we understand fitting in is easier than standing out. 

If we step outside the norm of our group, we risk being ridiculed and judged. 

It’s better to follow the slice of lemmings than step outside the flow and forge our own path. 

Our families, friends, and society erode our potential with the slow drip of phrases like,

“Don’t be cocky.”

“You can’t do that.”

“No one likes a show-off.”

“Who do you think you are?”

“Remember where you came from.”

And many more.

Each of these unto themselves is merely a drip; collectively, they create a river, carving beliefs around how we believe we must show up to be safe. 

Because that’s all fitting in and hiding are, a bastion of safety in the “unsafe” world outside of our beliefs. 

At around the midpoint of our lives, we often find ourselves lost, frustrated, disillusioned, and longing for more, even if we’ve reached the pinnacle of professional and materialistic success. 

We begin to grasp how far we’ve traveled from our true selves and our full potential. 

We feel it growing inside, but we have no idea how to let it out. 

It lives, breathes, and rattles the cage of the self-imposed cell we’ve imprisoned it in. 

“The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.” – Jim Rohn

Knowing there’s more to ourselves and our capabilities but not being able to access and express them is one of the most painful experiences of our shared human existence. 

It gnaws at us from the inside out, and we’ll do what we’ve been conditioned to do to fill the void.

Seize the next rung on the corporate ladder, earn more money, and buy more status and prestige. 

When none of those work and the success-sized void in our lives grows even more painful, we seek escapes.

Whether at the bottom of a bottle, mindlessly scrolling social media, consuming massive amounts of porn or binging on Netflix, even the golf course can be an escape.

The pain is numbed but never gone because nothing outside ourselves will ever fill our inner void. 

Unfortunately, far too many fall victim to the belief that this is how life is meant to be and confuse “numb” with being alive. 

Residing in the “Land of Just Enough” while our power and full potential remain unfulfilled and untapped, existing but not living. 

The amount of regret we experience at the end of our lives is directly proportional to the amount of potential we leave untapped and unexpressed. 

So how do we tap into our full potential in the next chapter of our lives, stand fully in our power, and live the lives we’ve always imagined?

We reinvent ourselves and how we show up in the world. 

Reinvention is a journey, and these are the first 3 Steps:

1. Identify Core-Values

Core values are the foundation of our full potential. 

We stand firmly in our power and potential when we identify and embody our core values. 

We know what we stand for, we know what to say “yes” to, and more importantly, what to say “no” to. 

We can identify our core values through inquiry; here are 3 powerful questions to examine.

• What truly matters?
• Who do we want to be?
• What do we want on our tombstones?

When we operate from our core values, we feel aligned with ourselves, and when we feel aligned, we kick open the door to the next step of our reinvention. 

2. Living Intentionally

We imprison our full potential when we operate from our default autopilot mode. 

We become unconscious passengers, merely coasting and existing and not fully living. 

We’ll never realize our full potential if we follow the same routine, day after day and eventually year after year. 

To access and embody our full potential, we must become intentional with our actions, which in fact, are our lives. 

Living intentionally can be as simple as breaking our routine and asking ourselves “why” we’re doing what we’re about to do. 

When we become intentional about our actions, we break free from autopilot, and our lives evolve,

“On Purpose.” 

When we live “On Purpose,” we open ourselves to cultivating and creating the most impactful way to embody our full potential and live extraordinary lives.

3. Having A Mission

We’re conditioned to pursue money, status, and titles in our 20’s and 30’s. 

It’s the blueprint we’ve been given, and we follow it diligently. 

It becomes a single-minded focus, and it’s only when we reach our 40s that the holes in this practice become known. 

We have no sense of agency. 

We have a success-sized hole in our lives.

We have no purpose, meaning, or fulfillment. 

Our relationships are stagnant or non-existent.

We’re carrying more weight around the waistline than ever before.

We become brutally aware that the days behind us are less than the days before us. 

What we need, what we crave, is a mission. 

Having a mission, something that’s bigger than ourselves is the ultimate tool to unleash our full potential. 

When we grow tired of living in that success-sized hole, we must start thinking about what mission we want to take on. 

• What’s a message you want people to know?
• What’s something that makes you come alive?
• What injustices in the world strike deep inside you?

To show up every day and make meaningful progress on our mission, we must evolve into the person who embodies their full potential; there’s no other way. 

Rewriting our next chapter so we can unleash our full potential and live the lives we’ve always imagined is a journey.

But we don’t have to give up everything we’ve worked so hard to create to make this journey. 

All it takes is committing to these practices for one hour a day.

Why one hour?

One hour makes it real. 

One hour is enough time that it requires a commitment; it stands out on our calendars. 

One hour embodies the saying, “Sawdust makes a pile.” An hour a day stretched throughout a life equals thousands of hours.

An hour, when used correctly, is enough to create massive change in our lives.

Here’s the thing:

Unleashing our full potential doesn’t require 100% of our time. However, it requires 100% of our effort for the time we commit to it. 

This is what it means to unleash our full potential.

Ready To Achieve Your Goals? Read more blogs about reaching your goals and success on Addicted 2 Success

• • • 10 Things Stopping You From Achieving Your Goals
    • 6-Step Process For Reaching Your Goals
    • Powerful Life Lessons From David And Goliath Story
    • 5 Ways To Achieve Your Goals
    • Reasons Why It Is Important To Follow Your Dreams
    • Signs That You’re Self Sabotaging
    • Why Perseverance Is A Major Key To Life
    • 6 Personal Growth Challenges To Transform Your Life
    • 11 Habits To Achieving Greatness In Your Life
    • 21-Day Rule That Can Change Your LifeReasons